windshield

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psychrunner

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My coupe needs a new windshield. After the resto shop installed the old one (a bit of a struggle I understand), it cracked. Are coupe windshields able to be purchased as aftermarket or from a local glass shop or is the only fit available from Maximillian, etc? Anybody know?
Thanks
Randy
 
Aftermarket Coupe windshields may not be the same exact size and shape as the BMW parts and may cause difficulties in getting a good, non-leaky seal. Speaking from experience.
 
I picked up a windshield from the dealer last year. At the time there were about 5-6 in the US. The price was reasonable but I don't recall was it was. The rear glass was available but about $900!
 
I have had a good bodyshop mount about 3 windshields from W&N, and never had a problem with poor fits.
I always buy new sets of chrome and of course the rubber seal. The chrome is easily damaged when removing and some of my chrome was badly scratched to start with.
 
which glass?

I notice on the W&N site there are four varieties of windshields - clear - green - green with blue band -and green with green band. Which windshield came standard in the csi (1972)?
Randy
 
Most windshields fitted onto coupes were of the green with green band variety. The windshields from W&N may seem like a bargain @ $375 but factor in the tax and the trans Atlantic shipping charge, you are probably looking at $550 or so. That is probably more than the US dealer price of about the low 5 hundreds which includes the BMWCCA discount.

At one time, there were a few aftermarket windshields for the coupes, but I don't think they exist anymore. Heard many stories about these windshields and their fitting problems.

Last year, I bought the green with the green band windshield from the dealer for roughly the same amount as stated above. The clear windshield is no longer available from Bmw. The newer windshield is made by Sekurit, an old oem Bmw glass manufacturer. Many of the coupes left the factory with Duro Glass brand name windshields and door glasses. I never knew this before, but if you were to look closely at all the information etched on the glass, on the bottom row, Sekurit can be seen in super tiny prints.

Bert
72 3.5 Csi
88 M6
 
thanks

Bert,
Thanks for the info re: glass. I checked with the closest BMW dealer to the resto shop and they want $850 (without my BMW discount). Said they couldn't do any better than that. The parts guy that I was talking to stated he had never seen a windshield as expensive as that for any other bimmer. Apparently there were 7 available in the U.S. that he could locate from other dealers. Mobile Tradition (Maximillian) may be my best way to go as their price with shipping is around $560 if I remember correctly. Not sure they have the various options in glass color, etc. though.
Randy
 
Randy,

Here is what I've found out with different Bmw dealers. Dealers price their parts at what ever amount they wish, or get away with, even though there is a Bmw manufactures retail price for each part. I've been to a number of Bmw dealers in the San Francisco area, and in some cases the prices can vary by as much as hundreds of dollar. A case in point, I was pricing the complete driver side door seal for my 88 M6 and one dealer quoted me a price of roughly $465 whereas most sources sell these at the MSRP of about $310. Some dealers are ripoff artists. Before you buy from some unscrupulous dealers, it pays to know the approximate MSRP of that part or parts. Look up the prices at www.realoem.com or www.mobiletradition-online.com

Looks like you are almost at the finish line on your restoration. Can't wait to see you new Polaris coupe!

Bert
 
I had inquired last summer with W & N about shipping a clear front windshield from Germany to the West coast. They quoted around €150 for the glass and €300 for shipping. They indicated it had to go through an international airport because of it size. With the exchange rate it would have come to about the same as at the dealer (except the clear is not available here).

My 72 CS is still very original, and I believe it has the clear glass.
 
word about windshields

1. I need one badly, mine (probably original) is pitted to hell and gone.

2. This subject came up on Art's CS Registry forum quite a bit, and some discussion over the years about whether aftermarket glass fits has, to me been resolved by Carl Nelson's comment to the effect that the windshield is a structural element of the greenhouse of a coupe. Think about it: with very thin A and C pillars, no B pillar at all, the top of a coupe is real flexible, especially so without the glass to stiffen it.

Thus, when glass is removed, stiffness is lost and the body deforms from stresses previously borne by the glass. Result: new glass leaks, whistles, doesn't want to go in, and so on.

The result of flexibility and the above problems in fitting give aftermarket glass a bad rap that it may not deserve. Since so few of us will ever have the chance to line up a original windshield against any of several aftermarket products, we may never really resolve whether aftermarket glass deserves its reputation for poor dimensional quality.

Choose: if you have a BMW windshield and an aftermarket glass, which is better and more "true"? We hope the OE BMW glass will be, but what are the allowable tolerances? Maybe the aftermarket is actually closer to the designer's intention. All you can know is what happens after installation. Who would pull a newly installed BMW glass to replace it with aftermarket?

Soooooo...

1. I don't want to blame aftermarket glass for all the reported difficulties that others have experienced.

2. If I ever get a new windshield installed (quoted $750 at the dealer here) I will make sure the installer very well supports the car before removing the existing one. Just how this will be done remains to be seen.
 
I just received a reply from W&N. Indicated they won't ship to me here due to prohibitive shipping. Didn't even state how much that would be. Looks like I'll go with Maximillian unless a dealer comes through with a better price.
Randy
 
call Carl Nelson and get one from him. period. Tell him "Phelpsie sent you"

ha! 8)
 
dp,
Carl already gave me a resounding "No can do." Actually he said the shipping is too expensive to get the glass from Germany or Sweden or from.....somewhere over there across the water.
Randy
 
Antar,
I ordered the one with the green tint which I believe came standard on the e9 (at least the resto shop told me that is what mine presently has - the one we are replacing).
Randy
 
windshields

I go through a fair number of windshields at my place and never had any problems with the aftermarket ones that used to be available. I wish I could find some now as the new dealer price is indeed $850 per item, and all the aftermarket sources in the US have gone dry.
Peter
 
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